Former IT worker jailed for planting ‘logic bomb’

A former IT worker at UBS has been jailed for eight years in the US for trying to financially benefit from a “logic bomb” he planted on the bank’s network.

The computer virus he activated from the code he planted is said to have caused around £1.55m in damage.

Roger Duronio was found guilty of computer sabotage and securities fraud earlier this year.

Duronio had previously been employed by UBS as a systems administrator at UBS Paine Webber in New Jersey.

He is said to have planted the rogue code on around 1,000 networked branch computers after becoming unhappy with an annual bonus payment.

The bomb was activated when he left the firm in spring 2002. Before the bomb went off, Duronio bought “put option” stocks worth over £10,000, so if UBS’s stock price fell following the virus outbreak, he would benefit.

But even though the bomb damaged UBS’s network, the company’s stock price failed to plunge, and Duronio lost his cash.

As well as being jailed for securities and computer fraud, Duronio was ordered to pay UBS £1.6m for the network damage he caused.

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